Niagara Falls

[PSULion]

Cave of the winds (US side) was hands down the best part of our entire trip. Don’t skip it!

 

[Malibustyle23]

I was going to add that there's a Great Wolf Lodge right by the Falls if you're interested! We live about 2 hours from the Falls (US) and go up there just for that and to look at the Falls. Depending how long you're going for, Toronto is definitely cool!! Much better city than Niagara Falls... 2 seconds outside the Falls area is pretty dumpy, honestly. Just my 2 cents having grown up kind of near there and been there an awful lot! The Falls area itself is fun though!!

While we have yet to stay at a Great Wolf yet and really want to I don't think I would want to stay at that location. Staying at GWL I think I would want to stay inside the entire time and get the money's worth in the water park but being at Niagara I feel like I would have to go out an explore the entire time.

 

[antmaril]

I love the Embassy Suites Fallsview on the Canadian side. Beautiful views of the Falls from a spacious room. Great breakfast and evening snacks. Maid of the Mist is fun. Niagara-on-the-Lake is a nice town about 20 minutes from Niagara Falls.

Have fun!

 

[Disneylover99]

I love the Embassy Suites Fallsview on the Canadian side. Beautiful views of the Falls from a spacious room. Great breakfast and evening snacks.

Yes. Totally agree! It’s our favourite hotel. We go for a night once or twice a year.

 

[rigs32]

I’d encourage you to search the forums. We have several NF advice threads every year with a lot of information.

 

[Dakota731]

We did a double decker bus tour with five activities included (Maid of the Mist, behind the falls tour, cable ride etc) for much cheaper than it would have been to do them individually. Our friends’ kids said “this is better than Disney” lol

 

[AndreaDM]

We LOVE Niagara on the Lake, we usually head up one weekend a year to do some winery hopping.

 

[Cloe Colton]

I'm from Niagara Falls, NY the views and the attractions are much more plentiful on the Canadian side so I would highly recommend going over there and checking out Clifton Hill, riding the ferris wheel, maybe trying the zip line (I have yet to do this). They also just recently opened a HUGE go kart track over there. If you are looking for more of a nature aspect the US side with Goat Island is perfect which is where you can do Maid of the Mist or Cave of the Winds. Both are cool, the maid is more iconic!

The jet boat tours in Lewiston (20 minute ish ride) is SO fun and definitely something for adventure seekers! The Silo is a perfect lunch spot for before or after the jetboat!

We have an aquarium which is fun to go to.

If you are shoppers the Niagara Falls Fashion Outlets are a 15 minute drive and have tons of stores.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask!

 

[Northernlites]

My favorite is the skylon tower for lunch.....well worth it.

 

[DucksDad]

I agree that Toronto is a good add on. I did a day trip from Toronto to visit the falls. We did the maid of the mist on the Canadian side, they have both. Tip on this, we actually brought rain jackets and used those because the hood etc stayed on and didn't blow off. We also put our camera's in zip lock bags with a hole for the lens to keep the camera dry. These were tips I'd read online and we were happy to have the jackets when we saw others drenched because their cheap poncho didn't stay on. We did have to bring a bag to carry the jackets in since they were wet but we were dry so it was fine.

I always eat at Boston Pizza when I go to Canada. I enjoy it and I like to eat things up there that I can't get in the US, which also means a stop at Tim Hortons too. But I know a lot of you in the east have them, we don't have them on the west coast, no dunkin either so we are lacking in donut places.

Hit up Tim Hortons for you donut fix...

I grew up in the area and spent a summer as an announcer at Marineland. It's a good option with some shows and amusement park rides.

If you don't want to go to Great Wolf there are two other indoor water parks attached to hotels as well. Fallsview Waterpark is on the roof of the Sheraton Fallsview and my kids have enjoyed it. (There's also another one called the Americana I believe but we've never been there). Clifton Hill is kind of a mix of old and new. Some of the old from my childhood is getting a bit rundown and in need of some love but the new is refreshing. The new Ferris Wheel and the dinosaur minigolf were a hit with my 10 year olds hockey team last fall and they've opened up a very cool multilevel gokart track beside it as well.

If you do go to Toronto, the CN Tower, the aquarium, Canada's Wonderland (think 6 Flags), the Vaughan Mills outlets and the Toronto Zoo are all good options (maybe catch a Blue Jays game as well).

 

[ajwolfe]

I'm sure these are silly questions, but I'm going to ask anyways...My youngest has been wanting to do Niagara Falls so we are considering for next year.
1. Is American money utilized on both sides of the falls or would we need to get Canadian money to use on that side? Or have our credit cards expanded to use internationally?
2. Assuming we would have to add an international phone plan as well if we chose to stay on the Canadian side? Friends recently went to a different part of Canada and said their phones literally stopped working as soon as they crossed the border.

And realistically how many days does one need to see this area? We've done a lot of the touristy stuff offered there in Branson and other places so we wouldn't be doing some of that. More of the natural, outdoorsy stuff.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I'm sure these are silly questions, but I'm going to ask anyways...My youngest has been wanting to do Niagara Falls so we are considering for next year.
1. Is American money utilized on both sides of the falls or would we need to get Canadian money to use on that side? Or have our credit cards expanded to use internationally?
2. Assuming we would have to add an international phone plan as well if we chose to stay on the Canadian side? Friends recently went to a different part of Canada and said their phones literally stopped working as soon as they crossed the border.

And realistically how many days does one need to see this area? We've done a lot of the touristy stuff offered there in Branson and other places so we wouldn't be doing some of that. More of the natural, outdoorsy stuff.

1. Yes, but...you get an awful exchange for those who will take it (usually par or 10% better than par). You are best off using CCs with no foreign transaction fees everywhere (USAA has a great one for that). I never got Canadian money, and I only used US money for tips at my hotel and one dinner show (which I was gonna tip on a CC, but they never brought me a bill folio since I prepaid, so US cash it was)...

2. Your phone will stop working (my spouse' Iphone did) if it doesn't allow roaming. Mine was perfect, since I had TMobile's unlimited plan, which includes Canada and Mexico.

3. To see the area and skip all the "US-available" touristy stuff, I'd stay 3 nights (if you are a slower paced fam) and 2 nights if you are fast paced. Many folks will stay a week and combo Toronto and Niagara Falls, but YMMV. If you stay 3 nights, save 1 night for the fireworks and seeing the falls at night, 1 night for Oh Canada, and 1 night for the Magic show (this is what we did). Get 48 hour Wego passes and use the day after you check in to start doing the "nature" stuff...

 

[Jimsig]

I'm sure these are silly questions, but I'm going to ask anyways...My youngest has been wanting to do Niagara Falls so we are considering for next year.
1. Is American money utilized on both sides of the falls or would we need to get Canadian money to use on that side? Or have our credit cards expanded to use internationally?
2. Assuming we would have to add an international phone plan as well if we chose to stay on the Canadian side? Friends recently went to a different part of Canada and said their phones literally stopped working as soon as they crossed the border.

And realistically how many days does one need to see this area? We've done a lot of the touristy stuff offered there in Branson and other places so we wouldn't be doing some of that. More of the natural, outdoorsy stuff.

1. What the PP said. The JetBlue Card is another card that has no Foreign Transaction fee.

2. We found our phones would work on the Canadian side as long as you were close to the water, within maybe 500 feet of the Falls, we use AT&T. You walked about a block up and it would change over to a CDN provider. So depending on how you use the phone you might not need to get an Intl plan. We even went to Toronto for 2 nights and didn't get a plan, we just didn't use it for calls and would use WiFi in the hotel.

3. We arrived Sunday afternoon and left Tue morning for Toronto and hit the highlights. It all depends on what you want to see.

 

[Disney Addicted]

Cave of the winds (US side) was hands down the best part of our entire trip. Don’t skip it!

Oh my gosh YES! My parents took me to Niagara Falls often as a kid. Always the Canadian side. We never ventured to the American side.

Then a few years ago we took our kids for a few nights and I read about Cave of the Winds here on disboards. THE BEST!!!!

The Canadian version (Journey Behind the Falls) really pales against Cave of the Winds. Google it! You stand very close to the falls and get completely soaked. So much fun!

 

[CherylA]

We went last summer and stayed at the Courtyard Marriott. Fair price. No falls view but we liked the location near Clifton Hills.I think it's hard to spend more than 2 days. We bought the adventure pass that included the hornblower, journey behind the falls, niagara's fury and white water walk. In the summer there were very long waits for everything even though we had prepaid with the pass. Try to go early in the morning to the attractions. I'd skip Niagara's fury that was terrible. The white water walk we waited over an hour for, they kept bringing tour groups down the 1 elevator in front of the waiting line. Very frustrating. The pass comes with bus access which is nice.

 

[Lewisc]

Maid of the Mist is only on the American side of the falls. A few years ago they lost the concession to operate on the Canadian side. Hornblower is the company which now runs what used to be Maid of the Mist on the Canadian side.

I'll second the Embassy Suites suggestion. Great fallsview rooms. Great location. I booked using a travelzoo promotion. I asked to pay for an upgrade for a fallsview. I think the clerk was so happy to find a guest not begging for a free upgrade I would up getting a significant upgrade for a reasonable price.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Tell me everything I need to know about planning a trip there, please.

Just looking to go for the first time for a couple days. Myself, husband and kids 14 and 9. We are coming from Maryland and have our passports. We can go anytime during the year but will probably need to go on a weekend or when school has a day or two off.

Where should we stay? How can we make this the best (probably) once in a lifetime experience on a budget? What should we do while there? Can we just drive our vehicle across the border? Etc?

We went to Niagara Falls last week and spent $7 plus dinner. Kids are 14 and 11. We stayed at Best Western Summit Inn and it was super clean, nice for a regular BW with a hot breakfast, DIY waffles, etc. $115 (not Plus or Premiere).
We parked at the State Park; I think it was $7.
I brought passports and the kids' birth certificates but everyone except me thought they could see well enough from the US side.
The view of Canada from the US side is ugly with the casino skyline but it is not in line with any of the falls so doesn't show up in photos.
I'd say pop over to Canada if you can, I'm sure the views are better there.
There's a Hard Rock Cafe across the street from the park entrance; we pop in at every town when we see one if your kids like that sort of thing, and big gift shops in that area too. The park shops and visitor center close really early, before dark, as does the gate to buy tickets to the view terrace walk. Most of the restaurants in town were closed by 10 so eat early if you can!
(And absolutely avoid the Chili's at all costs, even if it's the only place open!)
We spent about 90 minutes walking all around the falls and that was all the time we needed; we wanted to see it as a quick stop on a huge road trip, worth the stop.

 

[Ed J]

Go off season

Stay at Embassy suites and get the presidential suite, make sure you haggle with the people behind the counter and you can easily get it for 150 a night, American.

We did the tour through the hotel. Behind the falls, the boat the butterflies etc, again about 150.

Did I mention to go off season?

 

[jeepnjudy]

Depending on when you are going, you can catch the Candian National Exhibition (CNE) in Tornoto and/or the Erie County Fair (One of the top 10 county fairs in the country). Both are awesome venues if you like these type of activities.

 

[aprilgail]

One of our favorite things to do was this - https://www.whirlpooljet.com/ we like staying at a hotel at the top of the Falls Incline Railway- I believe it was called the Oakes, the higher up your room the better the view obviously- been like 7 years since we have been there the last time- we tried to stay on the American side one year but it sucked- did not compare to the Canadian side!